The Severed Thread

by Dione C. Suto

  “What type of action?” I asked suspiciously.

  “I’m not going to eat her for dinner, if that is what you are asking.” Blatant amusement colored his voice. “She will be sent packing with a less than stellar referral. I don’t want to do that unless I have to though. It’s hard to find reliable nannies willing to live in a house where they consider themselves not only an employee, but also a possible main course.” I suspected that was not the only reason it was difficult to keep nannies but I kept that thought to myself. I had not fully formed an opinion about the scent I caught coming off Penny.

  “I will have to take your word on that, I suppose.”

  “You will and I can assure you my word is good. Now, on to why I asked you here this evening.”

  Ugh, I had nearly forgotten why I was here. And it was definitely not about Penny.

  “A replacement shipment of merchandise will be leaving Panama in a week. I expect everything to run smoothly this time with no missing items.” He gave me a pointed look before continuing. “Lok will provide you with all the pertinent details. It will be consigned by a holding company that cannot be easily traced back to me.” I was glad to hear it couldn’t be traced to him since that would help prevent drawing unwanted attention.

  “Make sure the cargo is packed in a structurally sound container in Panama. I will not be responsible for this whole thing going pear shaped because you packed in a subpar container.” While the contents of all containers coming into US ports were scanned, very few were physically inspected. A container that appeared unable to handle its payload would be one of the first to receive a hands-on inspection.

  “You have my assurances that that will not be an issue.”

  “Alright,” I said nodding. “Was there anything else?” All of this could have been discussed over the phone. I had enjoyed meeting Penny, but I was perplexed as to why I had to make a visit here in person to discuss the shipment.

  “There is one more thing, actually.” He got up and walked to the window before turning back to me. “Are you available to attend a political function in Washington next month?”

  “Ah…” Could this evening get any more bizarre? He certainly liked to keep a girl off balance, wondering what outlandish request he might make at any moment.

  “With me,” he clarified.

  “As your date?” I squeaked, knowing that it was impossible that I was sitting here being asked on a date by the man who slammed me against a steel wall just under twenty-four hours ago. The very same man that was on the top of the suspect list for my brother’s murder. Talk about surreal.

  “Yes, as my date,” he said, like it was the most obvious thing in the world. “Although what I’m proposing would be more of a business arrangement. I would gain a lot of political legitimacy by showing up to such an event with the daughter of Quentin Lassiter.”

  I felt quite the mix of emotions after that statement. My initial thought was to be flattered that he would ask me on a date. Then I was irritated that he would even think to ask me on a date, considering the way he manhandled me in the cargo container. The next instant I was annoyed that I was flattered even for a second because he might have killed my brother! If that wasn’t bad enough, he wraps the whole thing up in the neat little ‘Quentin Lassiter’s daughter’ package.

  “Yeah,” I said slowly, followed by a very decisive, “No.” I took a few deep breaths in an attempt to work through the nausea.

  “I thought you might feel that way,” he replied calmly. He did seem unsurprised by my reaction. “I can take another month off our agreement if you decide to attend with me. We would then be at ten months.”

  I gave him a sardonic smile. “If you are not careful, I might not be running your shipment next week before I leave here tonight.”

  “Oh, that could be arranged.” A slow smile spread across his face. “But that would require more of a contribution on your part than I imagine you are willing to make at the moment.” All righty then. The waning nausea spiked again along with the certainty that I did not want to know exactly what that meant.

  “Considering I don’t even want to ask what that might entail, you’re probably right.” And let’s just leave it at that. He smiled again and I saw those gleaming fangs peeking out from between his lips.

  “As I thought,” he said before turning back to the window. He started speaking again, never taking his eyes off the darkened landscape. “I will give you some time to consider my proposal. The event is on October 20th, I will expect an answer by the 10th.”

  Chapter 14

  I made my way to the office the morning after my meeting with McCallister still in an emotional uproar about the visit. My conflicted feelings were becoming a problem. I wanted to believe that the man who was so kind to little Penny could never kill my brother. I also knew that I was delusional if I allowed myself to be lulled into thinking that he was anything other than what he appeared at first perusal; a stone cold killer with aspirations of political power. He was a vampire after all. They drank the blood the rest of us needed to stay in our veins in order to stay alive.

  I was so wrapped up in the conundrum that was Liam McCallister that I nearly ran into someone as I exited the elevator. I abruptly stopped short and looked up to find myself inches from the lithe form of Agent McCabe. He was a truly beautiful male specimen. I could just imagine that there was a long line of she-wolves beating down his door.

  “Ms. Lassiter,” he said with a smirk.

  “Sorry about that.”

  “No worries. You appeared quite preoccupied there for a moment,” he laughed. “Even talking to yourself, I believe. Your lips were moving.”

  “Yes, well. There is a lot going on in my life at the moment.” Oh God, how embarrassing! Corbin had once recorded me talking to myself with the camera on his phone. He had the most mortifying footage of my mouth and head moving in silent animation. I looked like a crazy person.

  “So I hear,” he said more soberly. “Can you tell me why you visited the Philadelphia Clan Home last evening?”

  “Ah….” Wow, he was the master of the abrupt subject change. I was suddenly wishing that I had run into him a minute ago. Plowed him straight down, knocked him unconscious even, that way we wouldn’t be having this conversation right now. Why the hell was I at the clan home? It was time for some impromptu fiction. It just needed to skirt the truth as close as possible so it was plausible. But first I needed to distract him a bit.

  “Are you having me followed, Agent McCabe?” I asked in an amused voice. I was not amused.

  “We received information that you were there,” he replied carefully.

  “That was an evasive answer if I ever heard one.” I turned and walked towards my office. I did not look back to see if he followed. I was sure he was back there dogging my footsteps like a good little wolf.

  “It was a truthful answer.” Yep, he was following.

  “After a fashion, I suppose it was.” I tossed down my bag on the side table in my office before taking a seat, indicating that he should sit in the chair opposite me. “You received information that I was there from the agent you sent to follow me. Correct?”

  “You are an interesting woman, Ms. Lassiter,” he said, shaking his head.

  “I’m not sure how to take that comment, Agent McCabe,” I laughed, shaking my head in mock sadness. “But back to your original question; I was there to talk to Liam McCallister about his ward, Penelope.” He looked completely surprised. Gotcha!

  “You were there to talk about his ward?” he echoed skeptically. “What exactly did you discuss about her?”

  “Agent McCabe,” my tone held a reprimand. “As you can imagine, most discussions people have about their children are private. In this case though, I think Liam would be alright with me telling you.” I decided to refer to McCallister as Liam for this conversation. It seemed that if he trusted me with his ward, it would be more plausible to Agent McCabe if McCallister and I were on a first name basis.
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br />   “Alright,” he said slowly, not hiding his disbelief well. “Let’s hear it.”

  “If you must know, we talked about how she needs to go on some play dates.” Let him chew on that little nugget of truth.

  “Play dates?” he repeated incredulously. I had to stifle a laugh since he appeared as unfamiliar with the term as McCallister had been last evening. It seemed like clan masters and Interspecies Bureau agents had something in common; absolutely no familiarity with the habits of children.

  “Yes, play dates. You know, a parent makes a date with the parent of another child so the kids can get together to play? This usually takes place at one of the children’s homes or at park, etc.” By the bewildered look on his face, I assumed that this was not only an alien concept but also the last excuse he could have ever imagined that I would present for my visit to Liam McCallister’s home.

  “You don’t have any children,” he recovered himself enough to point out.

  “You are correct. I don’t have any children of my own but I have several friends who do. And, since play dates usually take place during the day, I imagine you can see the difficulty arranging something like this would pose for a vampire.” I shrugged because it was so simple really. I almost believed Penny’s play date was the only reason I went there last night. “Liam asked me to help with the arrangements.”

  “You expect me to believe you discussed play dates with the Philadelphia Area Clan Master last night?”

  I leaned forward in my chair. “Agent McCabe, why do you think I went to Liam McCallister’s home last night?” Well that seemed to stump him because he didn’t reply for several seconds. I just waited and watched the play of emotions on his face - frustration, indecision and bewilderment with a sprinkle of annoyance. It was beautiful.

  “If you could see your face right now,” I chuckled, unable to stop myself. “I assume that this is the last thing you expected me to say?”

  “Yeah well, Liam McCallister is not known for his interest in play dates and little kids,” he said sheepishly. “You have to admit, it sounds a bit farfetched.”

  “Here,” I said producing my phone, scrolling to the text I had fortuitously sent to Corbin earlier this morning. “As you can see, my friend Corbin was as surprised as you were.”

  I handed my phone to the agent so he could read the text I sent at seven-thirty this morning asking Corbin if he thought his sister Marsha and her kids would be up for having a play date with McCallister’s daughter. The ‘WTF?’ that Corbin replied seemed to echo Agent McCabe’s sentiments exactly.

  “At least I’m not the only one that was surprised by that story. The text does confirm your description of last evening’s events.” He said the last bit almost grudgingly.

  “Just so we are clear, agent. I shared that story as a courtesy. I’m under no misapprehension that I was required to tell you anything. In fact, I think my attorney will be furious with me for talking with you at all without him being present.” That reminded me, I had not heard back from Corbin yet regarding my message last night. I still needed to speak with him about being my attorney in lieu of Joshua Levy. I would need to rectify that later today.

  “I would like to keep this cordial between us, because I really do want to do everything I can to help you find my brother’s killer,” I continued before he could respond. “It seems to me that you should be focusing more of your resources in that area and less of them following me around.” His expression darkened at the reprimand. I may have gone too far with that last taunt but it was done now. I would have to see where he decided to go with his response.

  “You know, you are absolutely correct Ms. Lassiter,” he said standing up and heading towards the door. “Your attorney is going to be furious.” He paused. “I do have just one final question though.”

  I raised my eyebrows in inquiry.

  “Did you ever consider that Liam McCallister might have something to do with what happened to your brother? He does, after all, control nearly everything disreputable that goes on in this city.”

  “Oh yes,” I assured him with a nod. “I have definitely considered that possibility.”

  “And?”

  “I’m sure you know what they say about keeping your friends close.”

  “Sun Tzu was a smart man. I will be in touch,” he said before disappearing through the door. I counted slowly to twenty before dialing Samantha’s number.

  “Hello?” she said.

  “Um, can you get down here? Like now!”

  “Be there in a sec.” True to her word, she came barreling through my door seconds later.

  “What’s up?” she asked, peering at me closely. “Ooh, you don’t look so hot.”

  “I’m sure I don’t. The last,” I looked at the time on my phone, “fourteen hours have been more than a little unusual.” I was so looking forward to twenty-four hours without anything crazy happening. Unfortunately, that did not appear to be in the cards for any time soon.

  “What happened?”

  “Well let’s see. First, I had a bizarre evening with Liam McCallister where he persuaded me to set-up a play date for his ward. Then as I’m getting off the elevator this morning I nearly run over Agent McCabe who proceeds to question me about my meeting with McCallister. I called him out on having me followed by the way.”

  “I have so many questions, that I’m not sure where to start,” she responded with a frown. “Oh, oh, I know…” She raised her hand, swinging it wildly in the air. “How’d you get roped into organizing a play date? You don’t even have kids.”

  “That’s exactly what Agent McCabe wanted to know,” I said with a laugh. “You should see this kid Sam. She was so cute standing there in her froggy pajamas asking me if I had pointy ears. It made me sad seeing how cut off she is from other kids her age. It seems living in a house full of vampires can really cramp a little kid’s social calendar.”

  “I can see that,” she said nodding. “What I don’t get is how you became the cruise director for her fun time?” I was still trying to figure out where McCallister was angling with that request myself.

  “I suggested that she might need some play dates and McCallister asked when I could organize one.”

  “And you agreed to do this because…?” she asked with a perplexed look.

  “Because he offered to renegotiate our arrangement in exchange for the play date,” I told her lifting one shoulder in a shrug.

  “Renegotiate how?”

  “He offered to cut back the shipments to eleven as opposed to the previously agreed upon twelve.”

  “Ah, I see.”

  “Ah, yeah.” Like I said before, the man knows how to motivate people. “I texted Corbin this morning to see if Marsha might be up for a little fun with her kids and Penny.”

  “I can only imagine Corbin’s response to that request.” She laughed while shaking her head in amusement.

  “It was along the lines of ‘WTF?’” I explained, mimicking little bunny ear quotes with my fingers.

  “I bet it was,” she laughed again. “So what happened with Agent McCabe after you ran him down getting off the elevator?”

  “Well he wanted to know why I had met with McCallister. It was hilarious actually. He was so shocked by my play date answer it was all I could do not to laugh out loud. Then I told him he should be using his resources to track down my brother’s killer instead of having me followed.”

  “What did he have to say about that?”

  “He asked if it occurred to me that Liam McCallister might be my brother’s killer.”

  “Wow, doesn’t beat around the bush does he?” She seemed impressed. I had to admit that I was too; everyone else was caught up in maneuvers and sub-plots while McCabe seemed to just want to cut through the bullshit and find out the real story. I felt a little bad I wasn’t helping him but it couldn’t be helped.

  “What did you say?” she finally asked when I didn’t respond.

  “That I had considered it and then I
quoted Sun Tzu.”

  “Ah,” she said, immediately understanding. “Keep your friends close and your enemies closer.”

  “Yep.”

  “Interesting.” She said before shaking her head as if trying to rid herself of whatever she was thinking. “Okay. Back to McCallister. Are you really going to set-up a play date for his kid after he threatened you? Threatened us?”

  Hmm, good question. “Yeah, I think I am.” I wasn’t really sure it would end up being a smart decision in the long run, but I wasn’t going to pass up an opportunity to cut a month off our agreement. One less shipment was one less chance of getting caught, not to mention a little less muck on my soul for helping a drug dealer. It was also a nice thing to do for Penny. “The kid is sweet and she needs friends. It doesn’t really matter who her guardian is.”

  “You think you might be playing with fire there?”

  “Possibly but I feel like I have to do it. It seems a pretty easy task in exchange for shaving a month off the agreement.”

  “Okay, just don’t say that I never warned you that something feels off about the request. It seems an abrupt departure from the guy holding you by the neck the other night.” I couldn’t bring myself to tell her about the humiliating date offer. I was afraid to hear what her theory might be with that added into the equation.

  “Before I forget, can you ask Johanna to have this couriered over to the Clan Home?” I handed over a manila envelope addressed to Liam McCallister. Samantha raised her eyebrows at me.

  “What is it?”

  “Just a little insurance that I hope I won’t need.” Samantha seemed to be waiting to see if I would elaborate further. I didn’t.

  “Sure,” she finally said.

  “Thanks. So, what happened around here yesterday while I was out?” I asked changing the subject.

  “Mostly,” she said. “It was business as usual.”

  “Mostly?”

  “Well,” she said, “Sal is moving Jason’s work through with a minimum of fuss. He seems to have a real feel for it.”